Police in the Philippines are questioning a woman suspected of dumping her
newborn son in an aircraft lavatory rubbish bin.

The infant was quickly taken to an airport clinic, where he was checked by doctors, fed and warmed under a light bulbPhoto: REUTERS

6:30AM BST 16 Sep 2010

The baby was found alive amid a bag of tissues offloaded from a Bahrain-to-Manila flight earlier this week.

The woman was traced after blood stains were found on one of the aircraft's seats.

Dinky Soliman, social welfare secretary, said authorities planned to do DNA tests on the baby, who apparently was born during the weekend flight, and the 30-year-old woman, who was tracked down in a remote northern province of the country.

Authorities brought the woman, who has not been named, to Manila for questioning and testing. Results are expected next week.

"We want to be very sure that we won't ascribe this act to the wrong person," Mr Soliman said.

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The baby's fate drew worldwide attention after he was discovered when a security officer on the Ninoy Aquino International Airport's tarmac spied something moving in a rubbish bag that was unloaded from the Gulf Air flight.

He found the six pound, nine ounce newborn wrapped in tissue paper. Airport officials said the baby, already bluish in colour, may have died within a few minutes had he not been found.

The baby, temporarily named George Francis after Gulf Air's flight code GF, is now fine but has undergone an X-ray due to two bumps on his head, welfare officer Thelsa Biolena said.

About 20 couples, including some from abroad, have offered to adopt the boy, she said.

The suspected mother was traced to the northern province of Apayao from a name on the flight manifest for a bloodstained seat near a toilet on the flight.

Apayao police chief Nestor Bergonia said the woman had apparently just arrived from abroad and has a Filipino husband. She could face criminal charges for abandoning the infant.